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Seriously, I haven't been able to talk about this til recently because of "pending litigation".
It started with an EEOC complaint by an employee. She claimed I fired her because she was black.
Our company had been growing, and we were doing business with some of the major players in the energy business -- Exxon, Chevron, Conoco Phillips, Texaco.... In order to do business with them, a supplier or vendor has to provide a statement on diversity.
Our company was mostly "white bread", with a number of Hispanics as mechanics and technicians, but our corporate office was very white. (I have referred to my executive assistant a number of times -- the atheist lesbian liberal Jew -- and we jokingly said we could "check several boxes" just because of HER.)
Anyway, I was hiring an administrative assistant for the IT department, and one of the applicants was a very nice and well spoken black lady. I honestly don't know if I was playing brain games, just THINKING she was more qualified, or if I was allowing myself to be steered that way because we "needed another minority" to strengthen our diversity position.
Long story short, I hired her, and she was a disaster. Consistently late for work, came "dressed to the nines" even though her job involved stocking the supply closet with computers and equipment, requiring her to go up and down a ladder (that was part of the posted job requirement) and she spent more time "decorating her office" than doing her job. Being the HR professional that I am (
), I had a number of meetings with her which I documented, in which I politely explained the job requirements, and showing her that she signed the statement that she agreed that she could perform those duties, etc.
About the third such meeting, she pretty much told me that she was doing what she intended to do, and I would just have to learn to accept it.
At that point, I went down to the HR department, got one of the HR Generalists, and came back to her office where I explained that I would pay her through payday, but her services were no longer required, and Michelle, the Generalist, would help her gather her things and escort her from the building. The young lady pitched a fit, accusing me of being racist, and "you're only firing me cause I'm black". Though I later regret saying it, I replied "No, ma'am -- I HIRED you because you're black -- I'm FIRING you because you're insolent".
I don't know if you've ever been through the crap of an EEOC investigation, and subsequent threats of civil lawsuits, but it can be VERY time consuming and costly. (Fortunately, my company paid all my expenses)
During this time, James, a black accountant in our office, came to my office and shut the door. He told me that this young lady had come to him, attempting to get him and other minorities to back her in a civil suit in ADDITION to the EEOC complaint. James said, "I'm just telling you this because I have never had a better boss and have never been treated better than you treat me and the other people in our department".
I won. Or, maybe more appropriately, I didn't lose. But it REALLY leaves me hacked that I SPECIFICALLY reached out to a minority only to get bit in the butt by it. her.
I'm mostly just venting, because I don't yet know how I feel about this, besides betrayed.
It started with an EEOC complaint by an employee. She claimed I fired her because she was black.
Our company had been growing, and we were doing business with some of the major players in the energy business -- Exxon, Chevron, Conoco Phillips, Texaco.... In order to do business with them, a supplier or vendor has to provide a statement on diversity.
Our company was mostly "white bread", with a number of Hispanics as mechanics and technicians, but our corporate office was very white. (I have referred to my executive assistant a number of times -- the atheist lesbian liberal Jew -- and we jokingly said we could "check several boxes" just because of HER.)
Anyway, I was hiring an administrative assistant for the IT department, and one of the applicants was a very nice and well spoken black lady. I honestly don't know if I was playing brain games, just THINKING she was more qualified, or if I was allowing myself to be steered that way because we "needed another minority" to strengthen our diversity position.
Long story short, I hired her, and she was a disaster. Consistently late for work, came "dressed to the nines" even though her job involved stocking the supply closet with computers and equipment, requiring her to go up and down a ladder (that was part of the posted job requirement) and she spent more time "decorating her office" than doing her job. Being the HR professional that I am (
), I had a number of meetings with her which I documented, in which I politely explained the job requirements, and showing her that she signed the statement that she agreed that she could perform those duties, etc.About the third such meeting, she pretty much told me that she was doing what she intended to do, and I would just have to learn to accept it.
At that point, I went down to the HR department, got one of the HR Generalists, and came back to her office where I explained that I would pay her through payday, but her services were no longer required, and Michelle, the Generalist, would help her gather her things and escort her from the building. The young lady pitched a fit, accusing me of being racist, and "you're only firing me cause I'm black". Though I later regret saying it, I replied "No, ma'am -- I HIRED you because you're black -- I'm FIRING you because you're insolent".
I don't know if you've ever been through the crap of an EEOC investigation, and subsequent threats of civil lawsuits, but it can be VERY time consuming and costly. (Fortunately, my company paid all my expenses)
During this time, James, a black accountant in our office, came to my office and shut the door. He told me that this young lady had come to him, attempting to get him and other minorities to back her in a civil suit in ADDITION to the EEOC complaint. James said, "I'm just telling you this because I have never had a better boss and have never been treated better than you treat me and the other people in our department".
I won. Or, maybe more appropriately, I didn't lose. But it REALLY leaves me hacked that I SPECIFICALLY reached out to a minority only to get bit in the butt by it. her.
I'm mostly just venting, because I don't yet know how I feel about this, besides betrayed.
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